Harmony Is Added In (AWESOME Style)
by yellow blaze
Summary: HumanAU Part 3 in Life with Lyrics series! After a completely (unawesome) summer vacation, Gilbert only looks forward to getting the senior year done and over with so he can do something else with his life besides using textbooks for target practice. Though using a picture of Vati would work just as well. Rated T because of language and Gilbert is in a bad mood.
1. Unawesome School Work!

OKAY PEOPLE. This is the LAST one. Seriously now. =_= (most) Every single review I read was something along the lines of "that wasn't seriously the end. What happened with Gilbert?" Or something along those lines. SO. Here we go. One more time. I will do my best to not almost-kill anyone this time around. *cough cough*

_Narrator (also known as Author): Much like how the last one began with the start of the junior year, we fast-forward to the senior year. Last year was getting a bit chaotic to add anything to. I will try to do better with teachers this time around. XD Allistor and Reilly, for those wondering, are no longer in high school (obviously, since they were older than Arthur). They are, however, still living at home, so you will see them now and then. :) The last story ended around the end of November, so we're about eight months into the future. Anything that happened last year that might not have been covered (more than likely due to me forgetting to add it) will be added as a memory, which you will see in text just like this Narrator comment. I'll try not to do an entire chapter in italics again though. That was a little hard on the eyes. =.= Oh and also, as with Life with Lyrics, this has four parts to it. :) I enjoyed writing those more than I enjoyed writing the single one. And this way I can focus more on each individual couple, yes? :) Anyone with a question about something that may have happened in either of the fanfics preceding this one is free to ask in a review! Also, keep in mind that if you leave a review as Anonymous, I cannot respond to you no matter how many questions you ask. :)_

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**Adding Harmony to the Music and Lyrics of Life** (A.N: That title is just getting longer)

Summer vacation. A time for relaxation, having awesome amounts of fun, going to hang out with awesome friends, making fun of unawesome stiffs that reside in the same house, and teasing those who would rather spend the summer studying. It was most certainly_ not_ a time for a crap ton of unawesome make-up work from the school year before (whether it was spent in a state of complete unconsciousness or not). And the unawesome lecture was almost completely memorized by now. Only thing that was keeping the make-up work from not getting kicked to the curb was the huge desire to _not_ repeat the junior year of high school. Even so.

Gilbert picked up his textbook and threw it at the wall. "I give up on this crap." He buried his face in his arms and proceeded to use them as a pillow for sleep instead, "Sleepy~"

"Gilbert…"

Speaking of lectures. Here comes the person who won the award for giving the most of them. Gilbert lifted his head to glare at the person in the doorway, "Screw your unawesome schoolwork."

"It's not _mine_." Regis snapped, "It's yours! You're going to be the only one of your friends in your junior year if you don't finish it!"

"I'm so tired of looking at the same math problems over and over! All they do is put the numbers in different places and change the variables a bit, that's all! It's the same damn thing no matter what page you're on!" Gilbert retorted, "I'm not doing this!"

Regis let out a long sigh, "How many have you done?"

"Whatever the hell chapter I was on." Gilbert motioned the book laying on the floor, "I don't know."

Regis walked over to look at the notebook that was laying beside the chair that Gilbert was occupying, "Chapter ten?"

"Sure whatever. That sounds good." Gilbert buried his face in his arms again, "Too many boring chapters in that unawesome book of papercuts."

Regis made a face, "How many chapters were you supposed to complete to get a passing grade?"

"No clue." Gilbert said, his voice sounding muffled through his sleeves.

"Well where is that paper the principal gave you?" Regis glared up at the ceiling for a moment. Definitely a time to exercise patience.

"It's that paper hanging on the wall with the darts in it." Gilbert pointed behind his door.

"Gilbert!" Regis stalked over and yanked the paper off the wall, sending the darts flying onto the floor, "That's not an appropriate use of guidelines!"

"Sure it is. It totally helps with the frustration." Gilbert grumbled.

Regis read over the assigned work and shook his head, "You're only supposed to do eleven chapters of math, you just have one more to do."

"Terrific. My cup of joy overfloweth." Gilbert said flatly.

"Well don't sound so enthusiastic." Regis made a face, "How much of the other classwork have you completed?"

Gilbert sent a glare at Regis before reaching under the desk to pull out several notebooks.

"Why are all they on the floor…" Regis blinked.

"Because when I get fed up, that's where they land." Gilbert snapped.

Regis let out a sigh and walked back to the desk, "Fine then, what about Science?"

Gilbert shuffled through the notebooks before glancing back under his desk, "…" He reached under and pulled out a red one, slapping it on the top of the desk.

Regis just shook his head.

Flipping through the pages with an expression of annoyance, "Got up to chapter nine before I got sick of reading about photosynthesis."

"You were only supposed to do eight chapters." Regis looked at the paper he was holding.

Gilbert glared at Regis, "Why couldn't you come in earlier and ask me that?!"

"I thought you were actually looking at this!" Regis retorted.

Gilbert flung the red notebook at his bookbag, "Geez! Could have skipped the entire lifecycle of a damn flower!"

"What about World History then?" Regis looked back at the paper, not making a comment about the flying notebook.

"Oh that one I know is done. I did that one first." Gilbert motioned to the backpack, "That's the only subject I actually like."

"Two subjects done, math is almost done. What about English?" Regis looked at him.

Gilbert made another face and flipped through a notebook, "Read up to whatever that last chapter was on Gothic Literature."

"Of course you would read until you got to there." Regis muttered.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Gilbert glared at Regis.

"You have to read until you finish Shakespeare." Regis commented without answering.

"That's the longest damn chapter in the book." Gilbert snapped.

"Well read it anyway!" Regis let the guidelines paper drop onto the desk, "You just have the chapter on Shakespeare and one more chapter on Math, then you can quit!"

"This is so boring!" Gilbert complained, "This is not summer vacation, this is school at home!"

"That would be called homeschool." Regis sighed.

"Only plus side to this is no stupid teachers." Gilbert sunk in his chair, huffing an angry breath.

"By the way, no writing on a chalkboard with marker this year." Regis leaned up against the wall, "Would going out to supper tonight help?"

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at Regis, "It's not gonna help with these stupid textbooks."

"Two more chapters." Regis repeated.

"Ja, one more chapter of stupid numbers in random order, and the longest freaking chapter in the entire English textbook!" Gilbert glared at both textbooks that were laying on the floor.

"Maybe you could try thinking about them in a more positive manner…" Regis sighed.

"What the hell is positive about math or English?" Gilbert glared at him again.

"Vati…" Ludwig peered in the room, "Mutti asked me to run to the store, is there anything you can think of that we need?"

Regis looked at him blankly, "Anything I can think of, your mother probably already told you."

"Buy me a paper shredder big enough to put a textbook through." Gilbert said flatly.

"Uh…" Ludwig hesitated.

"Don't get him that!" Regis snapped, "Just read the last two chapters!"

"I don't think those even exist…" Ludwig sighed.

"Well they should." Gilbert grumbled.

Ludwig shook his head and vanished again.

Regis picked up the English textbook, "Well can you answer any of these questions without reading it all?"

"Probably." Gilbert made a face, "That's how I got through World History and some of Science."

"Then just do that. If you're going to put up that much of a fuss." Regis sighed.

"Doesn't help me with math." Gilbert sighed.

"Just do the problems on the paper! If you don't remember something, then look it up!" Regis put the textbook down again after flipping to the Shakespeare chapter.

"I'd rather take a nap." Gilbert yawned.

"At least do one of the chapters…" Regis sighed, "School starts tomorrow…"

"I know that!" Gilbert glared at the open textbook.

Regis watched Gilbert in silence, remaining with his back leaned up against the wall.

"…I don't wanna." Gilbert laid his head down on the desk.

"That was fast." Regis commented.

Gilbert sulked, "I can't focus on this crap!"

Regis leaned over and put a hand on Gilbert's forehead, "…"

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at Regis, "Not sick. Leave me alone." He swatted away the hand.

"Just finish one chapter before supper and we'll go out to a restaurant, okay?" Regis sighed.

Gilbert half-glared at the textbook, "…fine."

"Danke." Regis let out a sigh of relief.

Gilbert pulled the English textbook over to him and let out another sigh, "Still don't wanna."

"Ja, ja." Regis nodded and patted Gilbert on the head, "You're almost done, then you can be in senior year with Roderich and the others."

"That's the only thing keeping me from flinging all of this at the wall." Gilbert grumbled.

Regis waited until he saw Gilbert was starting the last chapter before heading out of the room.

"Stupid unawesome crap." Gilbert sighed once Regis was out of earshot, "I just wanna quit."

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First chapter done! :D Yay~


	2. What the hell is this place - G

So I started writing some of these chapters at work, too, now, so that should help with the speed on updating (sort of). Now I just have to remember to type them up when I get home. XD

(Chapter was re-done 4/14)

* * *

Gilbert hummed to himself, skimming over the questions, spending hardly any time at all before he would scrawl something down and skip to the next one. If he had permission to do this earlier he could have gotten his schoolwork done a LOT faster. Stupid Vati.

In between questions, Gilbert would glance up now and then at the computer screen. Thankfully, after having learned his lesson a month or two earlier in the season, he had pulled his taskbar out of sight so Regis didn't see that he was in the chatroom while doing his schoolwork. Only way to keep himself entertained sometimes so he didn't die out of sheer boredom.

.

**Roma: Any hidden people in here~**

**Lovino: …who would answer that?**

Gilbert grinned. _When the call is made, someone should answer~_

**GilbertofAwesome: someone who didn't want Vati finding out he was slacking on schoolwork.**

**Lovino: Oh for…**

**Roma: XD**

**HermitArthur: Oh hello! How is that going?**

**GilbertofAwesome: I wanna take a nap. T_T**

**Roma: D:**

**Lovino: that bad.**

**GilbertofAwesome: Is it some kind of stupid rule that all textbooks have to use insanely small print?**

**HermitArthur: Uh…**

**Roma: Well they do have to fit a lot in those books…**

**Lovino: At least it's a new year so we get all new ones…**

**HermitArthur: Yeah. We're the first ones to write our names in the book.**

**GilbertofAwesome: :D Awesome! I can't wait to write something hilarious~**

**Roma: XD**

**Lovino: Hey! Try writing your name!**

**GilbertofAwesome: That is totally no fun.**

**HermitArthur: I suppose someone could take up all the boxes just to be funny…**

**Lovino: I'm not doing that.**

**GilbertofAwesome: or just doodle on the whole cover.**

**Roma: If you do that, I didn't condone it.**

**Lovino: You are a bad influence on us all.**

**HermitArthur: Well it doesn't say in the book we have to write our names…**

**GilbertofAwesome: Ja. So we can write whatever we want. I can do the grim reaper one.**

**Roma: …not the grim reaper. Principal said he was going to page that one to the office if he saw it.**

**GilbertofAwesome: K. Not the reaper. How about…**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: How about finishing your schoolwork?**

**Roma: Oh he was here.**

**HermitArthur: …that username is getting longer.**

**Roma: XD**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: Shut it Roma. Gilbert, stop changing my name!**

**GilbertofAwesome: D: Vati, you're so meeeean. I finished already, honest! I tired~!**

**Lovino: …I'm just gonna go set the table now…**

**Lovino has signed off!**

**Roma: Oh I guess that means I have to go. *large sigh***

**UnawesomeMeanVati: Don't sound so thrilled.**

**Roma: meh. I can just skip supper I guess.**

**HermitArthur: …**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: …**

**GilbertofAwesome: Careful. You might end up with four or five doors.**

**Roma: I have yet to see Alexander break a door.**

**HermitArthur: careful what you say… there might be other spies in the room…**

**Roma: Alexander didn't even have his computer on. I was in his study earlier.**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: Ja, well, don't go annoying him. Supper can't be that bad.**

**Roma: It's not supper I'm annoyed at.**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: oh.**

**GilbertofAwesome: can I go to sleep now?**

**UnawesomeMeanVati: YOU'RE EATING SOMETHING FIRST.**

**GilbertofAwesome: T_T**

**UnawesomeMeanVati has signed off!**

**Roma: …Bye Gilbert~**

**GilbertofAwesome: Byeeee… T_T**

**HermitArthur: Enjoy.**

**GilbertofAwesome has signed off!**

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.

Gilbert glared up at Regis, who had stalked into the room only moments after they had both signed off.

"Sleepy." Gilbert said flatly.

"Nein. You're not skipping supper, I already told mutti that you were coming with." Regis dumped Gilbert's coat in his lap.

Gilbert responded by sticking his tongue out. Crossing his arms with a huff, the coat lay completely ignored.

"I can still carry you." Regis threatened, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Oh mein gott!" Gilbert threw his arms in the air, "Why do I _have_ to eat something? I just want to go to bed! That stupid tiny textbook print hurts my eyes!"

"You have to eat because the doctor said to not let you skip meals. Und because I said so. Put your coat on." Regis scowled, clearly not taking no for an answer.

Not that Gilbert wasn't that willing to give in either, "No." Gilbert retorted, "Stupid doctor. I am perfectly fine."

"That's what you said _last_ year." Regis snapped, "Und you obviously were not."

Gilbert opened his mouth to give a retort, but couldn't think of one, and promptly shut it again. Tracing small circles into the desktop, Gilbert stared at the wood surface, "I'm fine…"

"Then you can come out and join us for supper." Regis sighed, not having meant to upset his son. After a moment of realizing that the albino wasn't responding (or looking up), Regis added quietly, "Please."

Gilbert let out a long resigned sigh, but yanked at his coat to pull it on, "Still don't want to…"

"Ja, ja." Regis waited until the coat actually was on before half-pulling Gilbert out of the room, "Fresh air will wake you up anyway."

"I'd totally have plenty of fresh air if someone hadn't made me do all that unawesome school crap." Gilbert grumbled, following along behind.

"Und you'd also be a junior again this year." Regis reminded, half-glancing over his shoulder as they made their way down the stairs.

"Stupid unawesome principal. You could have at least let me invite a person or two to cheer me up a bit." Gilbert pouted.

"Roderich came over a few times." Regis pointed out, "You two ready?" He glanced into the living room where Ardrich and Myla were sitting.

"Not enough times…" Gilbert muttered under his breath.

Myla yanked Ardrich off the couch and ran by Regis and Gilbert, "Food~!"

"Hungry?!" Regis yelled after her retreating back.

"Gott…" Ardrich stomped after his parents, with Gilbert sulking after him.

"Where we going?" Myla spun in a circle next to the car.

Regis yanked open the driver's side door, "I don't care. Wherever we end up that doesn't have a waiting line."

"That would be the kitchen." Gilbert motioned back to the house, but climbed into the back of the car after receiving a glare from Regis.

"I'm tired of cooking!" Myla exclaimed, "Someone else could cook for once!"

"I can't cook." Ardrich huffed.

"You complained the last time I cooked something." Regis steered the car out of the driveway.

"One time." Myla stuck her tongue out at Regis, "And that's because you prepared it totally wrong!"

"Excuse me! I was following the directions!" Regis looked at her in an offended tone.

"For the oven. You used the stove." Myla patted Regis's arm, "There, there."

Gilbert rolled his eyes and slumped lower in the seat. Fresh air was most definitely not helping.

They had only been on the road for ten minutes before Regis blinked at the two in the backseat (mostly the albino with his eyes closed) through his rearview mirror. Sighing, Regis pulled into the first restaurant parking lot he saw, "Here looks good." If they waited too long to find somewhere, Gilbert would be completely out and impossible to wake up, even for food.

"Oh this looks inviting." Myla leaned forward, staring at the restaurant, "Not too many cars~"

"I think that's a hint not to go in." Ardrich said flatly, "Everyone doesn't want to come here."

Regis shook his head as he parked the car. Climbing out, he half-glared at Gilbert (who looked like he had fallen asleep anyway in the short time they had been in the car) through the window.

"Just tap on the glass." Myla suggested, peering around the back of the car.

"Or I could wake him up." Ardrich suggested, holding open the car door.

Regis rapped his fist against the window, causing Gilbert to jolt awake, "Come on!"

"I told you I was tired!" Gilbert snapped, jerking awake, and climbed out of the backseat, purposely kicking the door into his father.

"I know you said that!" Regis yanked Gilbert by the arm into the restaurant.

.

.

Sitting in the (when the hell did they design these seats? The seventies?!) booth definitely didn't help how tired Gilbert was feeling, "What the heck is with these crappy looking peace signs?" Gilbert scowled up at the booth decorations.

"Um…I think every section is a different decade or something…" Myla glanced around the restaurant, leaning back and forth to see the seating areas around them.

"And we get the peace-loving hippie decade. Great. I can feel my hunger subsiding already." Ardrich propped his elbows up on the table and buried his face in his hands.

Gilbert burst out laughing much to Regis's annoyance (though Regis had to admit, laughter was a good sign).

"It's décor!" Myla huffed.

Ardrich looked up from his hands and glanced around the booth, "Right. Tacky and nauseating décor. Could they at least have not so many clashing colors?"

"Then you find their designer and complain to him or her." Regis sighed.

"Okay. Where is he?" Ardrich leaned forward to get a better view of the room.

"I doubt he's here at the moment…" Myla shook her head.

"Ja, he's probably hiding to avoid a harsh critic." Gilbert grinned, "Or the manager~"

Regis frowned, "I'm sure the designer is a well-respected individual with a…" Regis raised an eyebrow at a statue that was located across the room, "Creative mind."

"Creative." Ardrich repeated.

"Oh he was creative all right." Gilbert glanced up at the light fixture, "Even did the light in early vinyl record."

Myla glanced up, startled, "Oh. So it is."

Regis let out a long sigh, "At least our waiter isn't dressed up like he's from one of these decades."

"He probably refused." Gilbert snickered.

"He wouldn't say no to his boss…" Myla tilted her head, "At least I don't think so."

"Depends on the outfit." Ardrich commented flatly.

"If I see anyone dressed like a hippie…" Regis started.

"Oh look!" Gilbert pointed over Regis's shoulder, "An astronaut!"

Regis turned his head fast, "Why would someone wear that?!"

"Um…to blend in?" Myla suggested.

"With what? Is there a space booth? Maybe we can move over there." Ardrich stood up slightly and peered behind them.

"The music is probably Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Gilbert snorted.

Myla, who had been drinking out of her glass, promptly spat out the mouthful of soda and burst out laughing at the comment.

Regis buried his face in his hands and let out a very long sigh.

"Oh gott. I'd shoot the music player." Ardrich moaned.

"At least we have some decent music, but I could do without the menus shaped like a jukebox." Gilbert picked up the aforementioned item and made a face.

"Did anyone decide on food?" Myla glanced down at the page she was on, "I'm thinking the disco steak."

"At least it's not Area 51 mystery meat." Gilbert grinned, "Probably going with the nuggets though."

"Flower shaped?" Ardrich snorted.

"Ja. With a side of peace sign fries." Gilbert snickered.

"This is ridiculous." Regis sighed, "Don't they have alcohol here?"

"Regis!" Myla chided, giving him a light slap on the shoulder.

"It's the only way I'm saying anything on this menu." Regis scowled.

"Oh~ Ardrich, you can totally get the deep fried steaks here!" Gilbert elbowed his brother.

"With a weird name no doubt." Ardrich grumbled, flipping through the pages of his menu.

"Steak fried deep, man." Gilbert pointed at the page Ardrich had just turned to.

"Just soup for me I think." Regis promptly closed the menu and glanced at the back of it.

Gilbert read the back page as well, "They got pigs, potatoes, and broth."

"…" Regis made a face.

"I think that's sausage and potato." Myla leaned over.

"I know what it is. It's the way they wrote it!" Regis scowled, "I think whoever wrote this was drunk."

"Do I want the completely organic vegetables or the mutant crop that keeps growing for a side?" Ardrich tapped a finger to his chin in sarcasm, "Decisions."

"Next time we specify a decade other than the seventies." Regis grumbled.

"Next time?" Gilbert raised both eyebrows, "Vati is actually going to come back?"

Regis scowled in response, "Very funny. As long as the food is edible, questionable decorations can be tolerated."

"I'll keep that in mind during school tomorrow." Gilbert grinned, while Myla burst into a fit of giggles.

"Shouldn't it be more like as long as the decorations are fine, questionable food can be tolerated?" Ardrich tilted his head.

Gilbert snickered again while both their parents let out long sighs in unison.

"Everyone decided on what they want over here?"

Regis stared up at their waiter with a serious expression, "My sanity back. I left it at the door."

Myla doubled over laughing while the waiter tilted his head in confusion.

"I'm imagining these strange entrée names right?" Regis asked.

"Each decade has its own themed menu, sorry about that sir!" The waiter laughed, but at least looked semi-apologetic.

"Did you decide between the mutant crop or the organic crop yet?" Regis turned his attention to Ardrich, clearly not amused by the waiter's response.

.

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* * *

Kinda on the short side. It's difficult to tell how long it is when you're writing in a notebook.


	3. Assembly Crap - G

Well as I'm going now, two out of the four are done. The third is half done, and this is the fourth which I haven't started. Though by the time you're reading this it will be done. Which doesn't make much sense. Oh well. =w= Sorry.

* * *

.

.

Gilbert wandered down the stairs, still dragging his blanket with him (though he had gotten dressed, he was just cold and refused to come out from the warmth).

"Oh mein gott. Gilbert." Regis saw him almost instantly and buried his face in his hands at the table.

"It's cold! Deal with it!" Gilbert snapped, half tempted to throw something at him. Too bad he hadn't brought the pillow, too, it would have been perfect.

"Morning-oh." Myla blinked at Gilbert, "Um…breakfast?" She offered one of the plates she was carrying towards her son-in-a-blanket.

Gilbert snatched the plate, still sulking at his dad and plopped down in one of the empty chairs, munching on the eggs with a sullen expression.

"You are not going out of the house like that." Regis glared across the table while stirring his coffee.

"Ja. Ja. Whatever." Gilbert waved him off with his hand and continued eating.

Ludwig came down wearing his coat, "Morning."

Regis just took a long sip out of his mug, not even bothering to make a comment.

"Are you skipping breakfast?" Myla blinked.

"Nein. I was just cold." Ludwig took one of the plates off the counter and sat next to Gilbert. He turned his head to stare at the blanket, "…"

"I already got commented on. Hush it." Gilbert scowled and stabbed at the remaining egg with his fork.

"Actually I was going to ask if there was room for one more." Ludwig's face reddened a bit and he hastily started eating.

"Mine." Gilbert pulled the blanket tighter, "Go get your own. You'll let the cold air in if I give you half!"

Ludwig smiled a bit and took a sip of the glass of orange juice that Myla had set down.

"Do we have teenagers or five-year-olds?" Regis glanced up at Myla.

"Um…" Myla watched as Ardrich came down the stairs (also in a blanket), "…Maybe just intolerant-to-cold-teenagers."

"Ardrich can share." Gilbert grinned.

Ludwig watched Ardrich sink in the chair to his left, "…I'm the only one not in a blanket."

"What the heck are we?" Regis glared at the tallest of his sons.

"Stiffies." Gilbert responded, taking a sip of his own orange juice.

Ludwig spat out the mouthful he had just taken and doubled over trying to hide the laugh.

"I am not a stiff~" Myla protested, giving Ardrich a plate of eggs as well as a glass of orange juice, "How mean!"

Regis's eyes narrowed at Gilbert, "Ex-_cuse_ me."

"You're excused." Gilbert waved from across the table with a cheerful grin on his face, "Frozen stiffy~"

Ludwig hastily picked up a few napkins and proceeded to dry off the table, humming quietly to himself as he did so.

"Yum. Egg with just a sprinkle of orange juice." Ardrich looked at Ludwig's plate with a look of disdain.

"You're going to find yourself wearing yours as a hat." Ludwig glared at Ardrich and threw the wet napkin at him.

"Five year olds." Regis shook his head, standing up to refill his mug of coffee, "Actual teenage-five-year-olds."

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at his back, "Stiffy stiffy~"

Regis turned his head to stare at Gilbert, "…"

"Let it go." Myla patted Regis's arm sympathetically, "It's okay~"

Gilbert continued moving the egg around his plate with his fork, paying more attention to his parents than he was to his food.

Regis just let out a sigh and returned to the table, "You might want to hurry up. Otherwise the auditorium will be crowded before you even get there."

"Fiiiine." Gilbert sulked, but stood up, leaving his blanket on the chair, and hurried off to put his coat on.

Ludwig hastily stuffed the eggs into his mouth and ran after Gilbert into the hallway where his shoes were at.

Ardrich made a face and grabbed the toast off his mother's plate, making a quick sandwich and darting after his younger brothers.

"Hm. My toast appears to have been abducted." Myla commented.

"GILBERT! GET BACK HERE AND FINISH EATING!" Regis yelled.

"We're gonna be late!" Gilbert's voice came from the hallway, followed by the sound of a door slamming.

"Hm. I think we've been duped." Myla tilted her head.

Regis scowled at the plates across from him, "And we got stuck with the dishes."

"And two blankets." Myla laughed.

.

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* * *

"You know he's going to give you a hard time when we get home because you didn't finish eating!" Ludwig protested as they were hurrying down the sidewalk.

"Like I give a crap!" Gilbert retorted, "I wasn't hungry! My stomach is still turning from the crap that we had last night!"

"That place was awful…oh. Eliza." Ardrich halted in his tracks and waited for the female to catch up to them (never mind the fact that Ludwig and Gilbert kept right on going).

"Like I'm waiting for her!" Gilbert scoffed, "Mr. Lovesick can wait on his own!"

"Mr. Lovesick…bruder has a crush on Elizaveta?" Ludwig glanced over his shoulder to see the two talking.

"Uh, duh." Gilbert stared at him in disbelief, "How did you not notice the entirely-too-happy-facial expressions he had whenever she sent him a message?"

Ludwig tilted his head as they sped down the sidewalk, "No clue. It never even occurred to me."

"Eesh." Gilbert smacked Ludwig on the back of the head, "Pay attention, Luddy!"

"I was paying attention! I thought…" Ludwig sighed.

"You thought wrong." Gilbert stuck his tongue out at him.

Ludwig slowed down as they rounded a corner, tugging on Gilbert's arm to get him to do the same, "We're not in that much of a hurry…"

"Tired already?" Gilbert peered back at him.

Ludwig half-glared at him, "Nein! I just don't want to be worn out by the time we get to school!"

"Then we can fall asleep during the assembly~" Gilbert laughed.

"Nein!"

"Luddy~"

"Oh gott." Gilbert rolled his eyes and looked skywards, "This is worse than Elizaveta."

Ludwig looked at Gilbert in an offended tone before turning his attention to Feliciano, "Morning! …Lovino is not with you?"

"No…grandpa said he'd get Lovi up, so I left." Feliciano bounced up next to Ludwig, smiling cheerfully.

Gilbert tilted his head while they were walking. _'Something must have happened again…he usually only does that if there was a fight the day before…'_

"I wonder if he went to bed late?" Ludwig blinked.

"It's possible. His light was still on when I got home last night." Feliciano glanced over their shoulders, "Oh, Ardrich and Elizaveta are walking together~!"

'_Can I just speedwalk away from the two awkward couples…'_ Gilbert let out an inward sigh and began cursing his bad luck. _'Where is Roddy when you need him?'_

"Oh. Gilbert where did you all eat last night that was so awful?" Ludwig blinked, realizing he hadn't caught the name from the night before.

"Dunno. Decades of Dining or whatever. Weird name." Gilbert shrugged, still lost in thought.

"Antonio works there~" Feliciano piped up, "He just started a couple months ago~"

"I pity him." Gilbert said flatly, "I wouldn't be caught dead working in that place."

"…" Ludwig fell silent and just stared at the back of his brother's head.

"Luddy. I can feel your eyes boring holes into the back of my skull. Stare somewhere else, I know my wording sucked." Gilbert looked over his shoulder to stick his tongue out at Ludwig, "So sue me."

"We've already been through enough of that." Ludwig grumbled.

"Ja, ja. Vati isn't going to let me forget it either." Gilbert waved a hand around carelessly, "Take a chill pill! I am perfectly fine!"

'_You keep saying that, but you're not acting like it!'_ Ludwig protested inwardly, but had no desire to get into an argument with Gilbert before school started. That would just lead to a sullen (and sulking) person to deal with all day. Not to mention the nagging feeling of guilt.

"That's what grandpa keeps saying too." Feliciano stared off into the distance, "I wonder if he is though… there are some days when he just acts really not like himself."

"Really? How so?" Ludwig blinked at Feliciano in surprise.

'…_He's more observant than Luddy.'_ Gilbert stifled a short laugh. _'Roma will be _so_ happy.'_

"Dunno…it's just…he seems more hostile lately…" Feliciano sighed, "It's hard to listen to him and dad fighting so I tend to stay away from the house on Sundays…"

"They argue every Sunday?!" Ludwig gaped at him in shock.

"Ja. Because Alexander forgets something on the grocery list every Saturday. So Roma goes to get it on Sunday." Gilbert commented.

"…" Ludwig stared at Gilbert again. _'He knew…'_

"I don't know how dad can forget something every week. I mean, I'd understand like maybe once or twice a month, but when you carry a list, how do you forget something on it?" Feliciano tilted his head, "I wonder if he just wants grandpa out of the house for some reason on Sundays?"

"Maybe…does he do anything in particular on Sundays?" Ludwig tilted his head, thinking about it.

"Not that I know of… Lovi would know better than me though. He stays home on Sundays." Feliciano shook his head, "He has a higher tolerance for it than I do…"

'_More like he feels a need to be moral support.'_ Gilbert kept the comment to himself and kept walking.

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* * *

Gilbert made his way through the crowded aisle, trying to find a seat somewhere decent so he wouldn't be stuck near the back (granted that would make exiting a lot faster). He spotted three seats open and stopped at the end of the row, glancing back over his shoulder at Ludwig and Feliciano. It had been more of an assumption than actual knowing for sure if the Italian would be sitting near them or not, but knowing how glued they were to each other all summer, it might as well have been a 100% for-sure thing.

"I'll sit on the inside~" Feliciano skipped past Gilbert and Ludwig to take the innermost seat.

Well. That solved the dilemma Gilbert was having. He had been hoping to have the aisle seat, and now he got it without even arguing. Perfect.

Ludwig side-stepped past Gilbert and sat next to Feliciano, "Well hopefully this starts soon."

"It should." Gilbert glanced at his phone to look at the time before sitting down, "We're all supposed to be here by now."

"Yeah…but that doesn't mean it'll start. People are still coming in." Feliciano leaned forward a bit and stared at the stage as if it would make the principal walk faster to the center podium.

"Can I have your attention please? I would like to start this assembly in five minutes! Please find a seat and sit there, so we can get this over with!"

"He sounds so thrilled." Gilbert scoffed and leaned on the armrest with a roll of his eyes.

"Ja. He could sound a little more enthusiastic. First day of school. It sounds almost like he was already dealing with trouble." Ludwig tilted his head.

"Maybe he was." Feliciano laughed, "Anyone see Cruz here yet?"

Ludwig glanced over his shoulder, "Too many faces in closed spaces for me to tell who is who."

"I spotted Lovino. But that's it." Gilbert scanned the section of seats to his right, trying to see if he could spot anyone he was friends with, but Ludwig was right. Way too many faces in one small spot. "Why do they make these seats so damn small anyway?"

"Lovi is here?" Feliciano looked around them in confusion, "Where is he at? I didn't even see him!"

"He's like five or six rows behind us. I saw him sit down while we were still standing up." Gilbert motioned with a hand over his shoulder (almost hitting Ludwig in the process).

"They probably make the seats this small to fit the most amount of people they can into this room." Ludwig sighed, he had shifted a little to make sure the waving hand wouldn't make contact with the side of his head.

"They could make the room bigger." Gilbert made a face, "Give us some leg room maybe!"

"You're just going to prop your legs up like you do any other time we're in here." Ludwig glanced at Gilbert for a brief moment and saw the albino had already done so, "Like that."

"Why do you think I commented on the need for leg space?" Gilbert stuck his tongue out at his younger brother.

Feliciano continued squinting behind them, "I still don't see Lovino…"

"He was back there." Gilbert repeated, "If he moved, it's not my fault."

"He would be with Antonio right? I don't see him either." Feliciano sighed and faced straight again.

Come to think of it… "I didn't see Antonio. Just Lovino." Gilbert blinked, "Huh…maybe Lovino spotted him somewhere else and went to move over there?"

"That could be." Ludwig nodded his head slightly.

Feliciano tilted his head, "I could just message him…"

"It would take a while with the interference in here I think." Ludwig commented.

"Okay, if I may have your attention now!"

"Finally." Gilbert let out a breath of relief.

"We haven't even been here that long!" Ludwig exclaimed.

"Don't go to sleep already~!" Feliciano leaned forward to peer at Gilbert.

"Last year we had a few incidents that needed to be addressed to make sure they didn't happen again in the future…"

"Can I skip this since I wasn't hear most of last year?" Gilbert glanced at Ludwig.

"No." Ludwig scowled at him, "You're sitting through it!"

"Now, as some of you may know, we had an issue with our gym teacher last year."

"Is that what he's calling it? An issue?" Ludwig made a face.

Feliciano burst into a giggle fit while Gilbert smirked.

"He is no longer teaching here and there have been some other staff changes as well. I'm sure you'll know our new teachers when you see them."

"…Are we looking for adults holding signs that say I'm New or something?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not even going to ask." Ludwig buried his face in both hands, "Now that _I_ want to leave…"

"However! There were some isolated incidents that did not involve a teacher…technically."

Gilbert just shook his head in silence. Clearly this was going to be one of those assemblies that dragged on for much longer than it needed to.

"…" Ludwig made a face.

"The student who hijacked our intercom has been foiled in any further attempts to do so, as that door is now securely locked."

"Missed that one." Gilbert sighed in disappointment.

"So did I." Ludwig half-glared at Gilbert.

"I didn't. I was there for that." Feliciano laughed.

"Any attempt by any student to start a food fight, regardless of the food being edible or not, will be dealt with in the office. I am not having a repeat of last year's fight causing several students to go to the hospital."

"I missed all the fun stuff." Gilbert made a pouting face at Ludwig.

"It's not my fault!" Ludwig snapped, "And I wasn't there for that either!"

"That was in the lunch before mine…Antonio was in it." Feliciano tilted his head, "Hehehe, I was one of the ones in the ambulance afterwards~"

"If any student is found to be skipping class, do yourself a favor and just head to the office with whoever found you, and don't be like this student."

Gilbert blinked as a video turned on the big screen behind Mr. Smith, "Oh video~! Yay~"

"Ah, Matthew." Ludwig blinked, "Oh. Matthew." His voice got more hesitant, "I think I remember hearing about this…"

"Yup." Feliciano nodded his head, "I heard about it from Lovi."

Gilbert watched as the blonde on the screen tore down the hall away from the principal, "…Well that wasn't smart…oh. He's skating." Gilbert burst out laughing as Matthew skidded across the water and fell over the banister, "Ouch." He promptly stopped laughing at that.

"I assure you, he survived the fall." Mr. Smith just shook his head, "While skipping class is entirely worse, any student found on their _cell phones_ during class will also be in trouble. This _includes_ any guidance counselors or teachers as well!"

Gilbert burst out laughing again, but this time Feliciano and Ludwig joined in.

"Grandpa got in trouble~" Feliciano giggled.

"If, for whatever reason, you do decide to skip class….don't go out the doors and get hit by a car." Mr. Smith glared at the audience.

Gilbert doubled over his armrest from the laughing, "Oh mein gott…"

"Poor Arthur…" Ludwig sighed.

"His face is probably really red by now~" Feliciano smiled cheerfully.

"I am not making those phone calls again. Telling a parent their child was hit by a car is bad enough without having to explain that the student was also skipping class at the time. And just because your teacher tells you to leave if you don't want to be there, it is not a justified reason for skipping class in the first place!"

"Hey if someone tells me that, I'm going." Gilbert made a serious face and looked towards Ludwig.

"I'm not." Ludwig rubbed his forehead with one hand, "Gott…"

"Last year was kinda fun." Feliciano blinked, "I forgot about all this."

"Those things having now been said…threatening, bullying, excessive cursing, and placing a curse on someone is not tolerated."

"…" Ludwig stared at the principal with a look of confusion, "One of those was a bit strange."

"Placing a curse…" Feliciano repeated.

"Ja. The twin redheads." Gilbert now looked rather bored, "Already knew this~"

"That last one shouldn't be an issue since the main offenders graduated last year. However, their siblings that still attend this school are kindly requested to refrain from following in their footsteps."

Gilbert put a hand over his mouth to muffle the laughter, "Good luck stopping Arthur if he gets ticked off."

"You think you know someone…" Ludwig whispered.

"He can curse people?" Feliciano cried.

"I think that covers just about…oh. Also, as some of you have no doubt experienced…hormones are quite commonly running rampant in your age groups. Please keep the public displays of affection to handholding only."

Gilbert stared at the principal, "Did he really just say that? Running rampant?"

"…No kissing during school." Ludwig glanced at Gilbert.

"What the hell are you looking at me for? I'm not even dating someone!" Gilbert smacked Ludwig on the back of the head, "I should be saying that to you!"

Feliciano's face turned red and he sank in his seat.

Ludwig's face also flushed and he returned the smack to Gilbert, "Don't say that!"

Gilbert stuck his tongue out in response.

"That should cover everything now. I invite anyone with questions or comments to come to the office if need be. As long as it's not to complain about a teacher within five minutes of walking into their classroom. That goes for the student with sass issues."

Ludwig quickly put both hands over his mouth before the laugh came out.

"Cruz is gonna get mad." Feliciano blinked.

"It was definitely Cruz he had the run-in with this morning. That was him getting even." Gilbert grinned.

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Ish done…this one was shorter than the others I think. ._.; *does word count* Or maybe not. Meh. Just my imagination then.


	4. Why is there flowers? - L

OHMYGOD I NEED TO STOP PROCRASTINATING. Seriously! These chapters have been done for so long now, and I haven't typed them up and ohmygodIamsosorry. *sobs* If they're short, sorry, I'm going to just be happy with getting them uploaded.

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Ludwig stared at Miss Summers as she handed them the sheet of paper with the class curriculum written on it.

"Now there is nothing wrong about being in a remedial cooking class… this just means you can focus better on one thing rather than multiple subjects." Miss Summers clasped her hands together, "So today we are going over the cookbook in sections…"

"We're not _this_ dumb." Ardrich grumbled under his breath.

"Ja, really." Ludwig agreed with a long sigh.

"The things you will need are listed at the top of your recipe. This does not mean you are to throw all that in whatever dish you're using straight away."

Ardrich tapped his pen idly against an open notebook, not bothering to write down what the teacher was saying. Ludwig, as always, was copying down what she said, summarizing here and there so he wouldn't be hastily trying to write everything word-for-word.

"The instructions, usually numbered, is where it will detail how to go about adding things in…"

"This is the most boring crap in the world." Ardrich hissed.

"Even so, we should pay attention." Ludwig whispered in return, "At least act like you are."

"If you are looking for an ingredient to substitute in, in case of a food allergy or whatever, the back of the cookbooks sitting in front of you has a very nice guide. It's even charted for whatever you might happen to be making such as sugar-free desserts."

Ludwig opened his personal cookbook to look at the chart she was referring to.

"It really depends on what you want to replace, but there are some things you just want to avoid entirely if it is an allergy, like peanuts or something of that nature."

"Okay. There's _one_ useful thing I'm getting out of this class." Ardrich left his book closed and just stared at his younger brother's open one.

"As we advance in this class, I'll have you cook or bake something at home and bring the food in the next day~!"

Ardrich and Ludwig both looked up from Ludwig's cookbook and stared at the teacher in disbelief.

"We'll start off with easy things such as cupcakes or cookies. On a related note, I can tell the difference in a box mix and homemade, so don't even try cheating."

"Like our parents would let us." Ardrich muttered.

"I'll be amazed if the food survives the whole night to make it to class!" Ludwig sighed.

"By the end of year, I hope to have you all up to making dinners."

"Mutti will be thrilled." Ardrich sank in his seat.

"I won't be." Ludwig made a face, "She'll buy us aprons, you watch."

"Now of course cooks need the basic utensils, so I have prepared a box for each of you."

Ludwig gazed in apprehension at the box labeled with his name that was set in front of him by Miss Summers, "I don't want to open this."

"I may just have you two collaborate on some recipes so it doesn't take up too much time in your kitchen." Miss Summers comment, setting a brown box down in front of Ardrich.

Ardrich glanced in the box, lifting the flap as if he expected something to jump out at him, "Oh look. An apron."

Ludwig lifted the flaps of his own and stared at the flowerprint staring back at him, "Do I have to wear this?"

"Mine is blue~" Ardrich teased with a grin.

"Sorry, Ludwig, they ran out of blue aprons." Miss Summers glanced over apologetically, "At least you can tell the difference between yours and your brother's!"

Ludwig held up a stirring spoon that had an identical print as the apron, "Do you just hate me?"

Ardrich burst out laughing at the look on his brother's face.

"Well it looks nicer if everything matches!" Miss Summers protested, her face reddening slightly.

"Mine all have a blue ring." Ardrich shuffled through his box, laying some objects out on the table as he did so.

"Shut it." Ludwig glared darkly at him.

"You should find an apron, set of mixing spoons and measuring cups, as well as a small mixing bowl. You probably need to use larger ones, but I thought they were cute."

Ludwig held up the small flowery bowl, "…it even has a flower on the inside…"

"Ja, real cute." Ardrich continued grinning, "They suit you!"

"You're going to be wearing the bowl as a hat on your head." Ludwig scowled at his oldest brother.

"If you break any of these, you will have to replace them on your own." Miss Summers glanced around the room, "And I will be doing an equipment check now and then, so I don't suggest losing them either!"

"Mutti will enjoy this to no end." Ludwig commented dryly, setting everything back inside the box.

"I certainly am!" Ardrich repacked his own box neatly and closed the flaps.

"You should have found your first assignment in the box as well." Miss Summers continued, "Make sure you follow the directions and bring the completed assignment in tomorrow."

"I'll glance at it later." Ardrich shrugged.

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* * *

Gilbert sat near the very back of the classroom, staring at the teacher with an expression mix of disbelief, horror, and annoyance. Teacher, an older (way too old to be teaching in Gilbert's opinion) male stood at the front of the class, holding up a (very) thick textbook.

"This book will be your life for the rest of the year. Treat it with the utmost respect. Inside the cover you will find a block to write your name. I highly recommend you do so in case you ever lose it."

Gilbert glared at the inside cover. _This book is our life? What kind of unawesome crap is that? _There was a block for both name and year and Gilbert tapped his pen against the textbook for a moment.

**Name: **_Put me out of my misery_ **Year:** _This one preferably_

"Now as you will notice as time goes by in this classroom…"

_It goes by impossibly slow._ Gilbert rolled his eyes but kept the comment to himself, lest he end up the first one in the circle of friends with detention.

"I will assign a chapter, or more, of reading. These assignments will require you to do the "What have you learned?" questions at the end of each segment."

_Are they trying to bury us in homework this year?_ Gilbert scowled, wishing he had someone (_anyone) _in the class with him. At least then he would have someone to share his disgust with.

"Now I understand sometimes there just is not enough hours in the day to do everything that is required of you. If this occurs, simply explain it to me the next time we have class."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. Okay. So he could take back what he was thinking about this guy. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

"If anyone ever feels like I am going over something too fast, by all means, let me know, _politely_, and I will slow down."

Gilbert relaxed a bit. For a while there he thought they were being handed an anchor while in the middle of drowning. But this wasn't sounding so bad.

"There may be the occasional pop quiz or text, but I will try and give hints when something I say is likely to appear on one of those."

_Awesome. I got a helpful teacher first class of the day!'_ Gilbert grinned to himself. Today might turn out alright yet!

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Short. I warned you. I'm sorry.


	5. How did you get your license? - R

Okay, here we go again. =_=; I was thinking maybe I would just update whenever I have one chapter done from any of the stories, but considering I go back and edit them sometimes after I think I'm done, that wouldn't work out so well. :/

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* * *

Gilbert left his first classroom, carrying his one textbook under his arm. The class hadn't sounded so bad by the Mr-whatever-his-name-was had finished the insanely-long-but-informative speech. How do these teachers even recite that all day without getting bored of listening to it?

Gilbert paused to glance at his class schedule. Study Hall was up next. Perfect. At least now he could sleep and not get in trouble for it. Continuing on his way down the hall, Gilbert spotted Lovino walking with Cruz, and briefly wondered if Cruz had asked about Antonio. More than likely, and they had turned down the other hall anyway, so there went the decision about whether or not to ask.

Gilbert glanced around as him as he moved down the hall. Occasionally he got a weird stare, or a 'long time no see!' and he would either return the stare or just smile at whoever had said hello. _I feel like a zombie running on automatic._ Gilbert held his free hand to his forehead and shook his head with a sigh. Doing all that schoolwork had better have been worth it. Felt like he could sleep for a week and still not be ready to wake up.

"Morning."

"Hallo." Gilbert returned the greeting automatically without looking to see who it was.

"Tired already?"

Gilbert gave a shut-the-heck up glare at Roderich, "Tired does not even describe me right now."

"Oh?" Roderich raised an eyebrow, unfazed by the glare he had just gotten, "Well you certainly look like you're about to fall asleep right now."

"Feels like that, too. I'm way beyond tired." Gilbert stifled a yawn, "What class you heading to?"

"History, Ancient Times, same thing." Roderich looked annoyed for a moment, "Hopefully it's not like last year's history class."

"Warn me if it is. I got study hall in the meantime. Naptime for me~" Gilbert shifted his psych book from one hand to the other, causing Roderich to glance at the movement and recoil (the look on Roderich's face was hilarious).

"What class hands out _that_ thing?" Roderich pointed at the book, "It's huge!"

"Psychology." Gilbert responded flatly, "First time I see my locker this thing is getting flung into it."

"Not looking forward to that at all…ah. I have to turn here." Roderich paused by an adjoining hallway, "See you later."

"Ja, ja. Good luck with history." Gilbert grinned and waved the glare he got in response away.

"Have a good nap." Roderich rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Hopefully." Gilbert grumbled. At least the short walk with Roderich had cheered him up a bit. Even if it did nothing for his zombie mode.

He pushed open the door to his study hall classroom and wandered inside. It apparently had been right next to the corner where Roderich turned off at. If he had known that beforehand, he would have lingered there to talk to him longer. No telling how far away Roderich's classroom had been though. Gilbert let out a sigh and collapsed in the nearest seat, seeing an absence of any seating chart. At least he could get some shut-eye now.

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* * *

Roderich paused by his classroom door. If he had known it was this close by, he would have talked to Gilbert longer. "His room was probably further up the hall anyway…" Roderich shook his head and stepped into the classroom, locating his seat near the back of the room. _No big deal. That just means I have less distractions behind me with people whispering._ So far no one else was in the room that he talked to on any regular basis. Pity.

He sat in the chair and laid a notebook open on the desktop, waiting for the rest of the class (and the teacher) to show up. What kind of teacher wasn't already in the room? Shouldn't whoever it was have been here the bell before? Unless they had a missing teacher as well. That would be problematic. And not setting a very good example.

A few minutes ticked by and Roderich glanced over the seating chart, realizing Lovino's name was written for the desk behind him. Oh that's great. He just saw Feliciano in gym, and now he had the other one in this class. At least Lovino was a lot quieter (usually). The bell rang after a few minutes more, leaving a confused Roderich, as well as the other students in the room (the few that were there).

"Wait, where's everyone else?" Roderich glanced around the room. It just was not possible for all of them to be late!

"So…now what? Do we just leave?"

Roderich half-glared at the student sitting nearby him that had spoken up, "Well it's not like we can do that! We'd get in trouble for skipping!" Never mind the fact that the teacher apparently was.

A half-amused expression crossed his face when Lovino burst into the classroom. At least he had made an effort to get here upon the realization that he was late.

"All that running and the teacher isn't even here?!" Lovino scowled and stalked to his seat.

"Neither is half our class." Roderich commented, "Why were you late anyway?"

"Went the wrong way. I was talking with someone and wasn't paying attention." Lovino scowled. He inhaled a few deep breaths before laying his head down on the desk.

Roderich raised an eyebrow before turning his attention front again. "Well our teacher has to get here at some point."

Lovino didn't respond, and Roderich assumed the male was just trying to catch his breath. No telling how far he ran to get here. He could also hear distinct muttering but couldn't quite make out the words that were being said.

"Please tell me he is not our teacher." Roderich spoke up in a flat tone.

Roma had peeked his head in, and was glancing around the room, "Is your teacher not here yet?"

Roderich stared at him in complete disbelief while another student (closer to the front of the room) chimed in with a 'no'.

Roma frowned for a moment before wandering into the room. He picked up a paper that was laying on the teacher's desk, "…Well." He set the paper back down, "Easy enough to cover~"

_Did our teacher just skip their own class?_ Roderich watched as the usually-a-guidance-counselor passed out a textbook to each student.

"You're not even licensed to be a substitute!" Lovino hissed.

"Shush." Roma responded, standing on the side aisle at their desks, "Oh and please remember to write your names in your textbooks! It's difficult to return a found book with no name in it~"

Roderich glanced at the inside cover and found it was blank. Either it was a new book or no one before him had even cared. Still…what Roma just said had sounded like it could be fun. Roderich wrote "no name" and "blank" for the year before closing the book again. Let's see them return _that_ one.

"She also wants you to fill out this paper…" Roma had crossed the room back to the desk, but now wandered up and down the rows of seats, placing one on each desk with a student, "Please write a valid, and responsible, name of someone who can pick up your homework for you in case you miss class for any extended amount of time."

_I notice he didn't say valid for the textbooks._ Roderich raised an eyebrow.

"This person can be a classmate, sibling, friend not in this class…or…" Roma held up the paper closer and squinted at it, "alumni of the school…"

Roderich hesitated. Who could he even put down? He didn't want to use someone who was more likely to miss school than he was, so Gilbert was definitely out. Of course, doing it that way meant he might not have to worry about the homework while he was sick. Roderich shrugged and wrote in Gilbert's name and cell phone number. If Gilbert ever found out his reasoning, he was likely to get hit upside the head.

"Just pass them up when you're done." Roma called, "I don't really see a point in going over anything else on this paper, it's mostly common sense, so just have some free time." Roma picked up the papers as people finished them and dropped them on the desk at the front of the room. Once done, he vacated the room, leaving a confused silence behind him.

"Who the heck was that?"

"IDIOT." Lovino snapped from behind Roderich, "Just leave the room without an adult present!"

"He did." Roderich sighed. Well. Looks like they got a study hall in second bell anyway. _So _there_ Gilbert!_

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SHOOOOOOORT. T_T It really is hard to tell how long a chapter is when you're writing them in a notebook. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. =w=


	6. I just wanna sleep - G

Okay, so I was going to be doing the updates every Thursday or Friday, but then I went out with my mom on Thursday and a friend came over early afternoon on Friday, so that didn't happen. Sorry about that. =w=

(chapter was re-done 4/15)

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Gilbert glanced around the hallway as he left his study hall. Well, so much for the fleeting hope that he would see Roderich again. Gilbert had noticed, while looking at his schedule, that Regis must have spoken to the principal, because he was definitely lacking a gym glass this year (not that he was complaining). It was slightly annoying that he had gone and done so without giving mention of it, though. Unless of course Gilbert had just been not listening at the time…

'_Like gym class ever did anything to aggravate my health anyway…'_ Gilbert just rolled his eyes. So now he was headed for…drama class. What the hell do they even _do_ in that class? He certainly hadn't heard anything good of it from previous years! _I'm going into uncharted territories… I may need a video camera to ensure my survival, or at least so someone has a documentary of how I died…_

"Now I'm going to be fucking late for gym! Stupid moronic principal!" Lovino bolted by Gilbert, presumably headed for the ramp.

Gilbert watched him vanish around the corner before continuing on his way, only to find himself face-to-face with Antonio not a minute later, "Oh hallo."

"Morning." Antonio responded with a smile (definitely forced, what the hell).

"Are you okay? Your eyes seem kinda…" Gilbert started, but was quickly cut off.

"I'm fine." Antonio glanced away, eyes shifting towards the lockers next to them instead of the person he was talking to, "I just didn't feel like sitting through a stupid assembly is all."

Gilbert grinned, "I thought it was rather funny myself! They even showed a video of Mattie slipping on the puddle of water when he made his escape attempt!"

Antonio smiled (a real one at least), "Did they? Was there anything of note said?"

"Basically anything stunt-wise that was done last year: don't. Including food fights." Gilbert rubbed the back of his head.

"Right. I don't think I'd be doing that again anyway." Antonio continued letting his gaze wander anywhere except at Gilbert.

_He's acting totally un-Antonio-like right now._ Gilbert tilted his head in confusion, but decided to attempt again to cheer him up, "Also said anybody found skipping class should just go to the office. No running out the front doors and into a car."

"Was he just making fun of us the entire time?" Antonio looked back at Gilbert, but the expression on his face was near-impossible to read.

Gilbert blinked. Now he seemed upset. Oh great. "He wasn't saying it like he was making fun of anybody. He seemed more like he was trying to make light of the situations that kept coming up last year!"

"I suppose that's a thin gray line then. Good thing I wasn't there." Antonio shrugged and stepped around Gilbert, "I probably shouldn't add lateness to my the record I have going for the day, excuse me."

Gilbert blinked several times, trying to process what had just happened. _What the heck?_ He glanced back over his shoulder, but Antonio was already gone. Talk about a mood-killer! Not that Gilbert had been in a good one to begin with, but still… _Something is definitely wrong with him…what happened to the smiley Antonio from last year?_

Shaking his head, Gilbert continued walking down the hall, keeping his gaze moreso on the floor than on the faces of the people going by. Maybe he could just find a quiet spot to curl up and sneak a nap instead of going to the no-doubt-lame drama class. Somehow he would have to do so without being caught though…

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Gilbert glanced at his school schedule and looked over the classroom numbers. Drama class should be just down the hall on the right... however... the library was to his left. _Maybe there's an unused classroom or something I can sneak a nap in..._ He turned his head towards the library and cautiously peered through the window as he was walking (slowly) by it. No librarians in sight. That meant no one to question his reason for being in there!

Pushing the door open, Gilbert made sure to not let it slam shut, getting confused glances from some people in the hallway (but Gilbert just glared at them) before turning and walking by the tables set up for reading. He could probably just pick up a book and act like he had Study Hall, but on the off-chance someone actually _would_ ask to see proof of it, he would settle for one of the back classrooms.

The first one he came by seemed occupied by one of the freshmen classes (what class had a library session the first day?) so he hopped to the second one. Lights off, and nobody inside! Gilbert tried the door handle and found it unlocked, so he slipped in. Sneaking naps before when he was supposed to be in class taught him a few valuable lessons in not wanting to get caught. Do not turn the light on, do not attempt to lock the door (amazing how staff remembers when a door is supposed to be locked and when it isn't), and be very careful to not oversleep. Otherwise you miss more than one class, the lecture from the principal is twice as long, and there's a much bigger chance of being caught.

Curling up in the corner, Gilbert plunked his textbook down as a pillow and pulled his legs close to his chest. This was nice. As far as places to sneak a nap went, the library ranked right up there with the rooftop in spring time. Nice and warm. And thanks to the stunt that Lovino had pulled, the roof was going to be off limits (or at least watched very carefully) for some time. Gilbert listened to the class bell ring. It was also nice and quiet in the room he was in. Slightly surprising since the class was right next door, but he certainly wasn't about to complain either. No noise, nice and warm, lights off... all add up to a decent amount of sleep (provided there were no screeching from older females finding him).

Come to think of it... why did it always seem like the school librarians were female? Didn't males want this job? Working in a school library would be perfect. You know when a classroom is going to be used, so you can use it as a napping spot when it's not reserved! It's not like people came down here every hour of the day either, so there wasn't much people contact. _I wonder how much they get paid..._ Gilbert grinned to himself. He could see the look on his father's face already if he told him he wanted a job as a librarian. Sad to say, the stiff would also probably guess why. Just as well, Gilbert could look for some other job that didn't involve putting up with people like Smithy on a daily basis. _It would be rather funny if I got a job here as a librarian though... then I could give him a hard time every day!_

Sleep fell over him within a few minutes of his last thought and he drifted off. He didn't even hear his phone quietly going off in his coat pocket.

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Was not happy with Antonio being the majority of Awesome Style, so his POV got bumped to Lovino Style and Gilbert POV got extended. (edited 4/15)


	7. Lunch time with Roddy and Luddy!

So here we go again. Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple months. I wasn't entirely happy with the format of some of these fanfics and I had no motivation to edit them at all, but now I did :D So if you look at the past couple chapters you may see edited dates or notes. =w= Nothing major. Did add a little bit to Gilbert's POV in the last chapter though.

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Gilbert started dragging his feet towards the cafeteria. At least he had managed to sneak a nap in the last class, however… it had ended in a rather exciting fashion. Fortunately on the way towards lunch his locker had been in the same hall so he could throw his giant textbook of horrors inside. _Maybe a soda will help wake me up… _After doing a quick glance through the semi-crowded hallway one last time (still no friends nearby) he ducked in through the doors of the cafeteria and headed for one of the random lines.

Gilbert looked up towards the menu boards. The food options seemed to be the same as last year, but hopefully the _food_ wasn't the same as last year. _Probably some fridge to the past hidden in their damn kitchen._ He swayed in the spot he was standing for a minute before he realized he was about to drift back off to sleep again.

He still hadn't quite made up his mind where to head for once the line branched off. Salad with the chance of some extra legs or a hockey puck sandwich. Maybe the bread would at least be edible. He shifted to the left and moved towards the hot line, finding it moved a lot faster once the line had gone in two different directions (that or it was an indication of people finding out what the food looked like and not really being hungry after all).

Grabbing a tray off the counter, at first glance it did seem edible (at least the potatoes on the side did), Gilbert passed by the drink coolers, pulling a soda out as he went. Unfortunately there will still no familiar faces while he was headed towards the tables, so he ended up in the farthest corner of the room. "Please let there be peace und quiet…"

"I actually have lunch with you this year." Roderich appeared a few minutes after Gilbert had carefully inspected his hamburger (and amazingly discovered it tasted like it was supposed to).

"Oh hallo." Gilbert gave half a wave and began pushing his potatoes around with his fork.

"Something wrong with it?" Roderich looked at the pile with a questioning glance.

"No, they're fine." Gilbert munched on a small bite and watched as a familiar blonde made his way over to the table. _Someone who might tattle to vati if I don't eat…_

"Found people I know in this place!" Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down across from Roderich.

"Hello." Roderich looked up at him briefly before returning his attention to the bowl of soup on his tray. He was just stirring it around with his spoon, as if expecting something to surface that shouldn't be in it.

Gilbert lifted the top bun of his hamburger and stared at it. If he forced himself to eat he would no doubt be in the nurse's office later. If he didn't, somehow or another someone at home would find out and he would get in trouble (especially since he left most of his breakfast sitting). _Like it's my fault my appetite is non-existent!_

"It looked like they had new people working in the cafeteria. Hopefully that's a good sign." Ludwig took a bite of the burger on his own tray. He paused for a moment before shrugging and continuing to eat.

Roderich raised an eyebrow but didn't ask and started eating his soup in small spoonfuls.

Gilbert glanced off towards the exit from the line gathering area and spotted Antonio coming out. He started to put up his hand to wave, but his friend had already gone off in a different direction. "…" Gilbert rested his hand back down on the table and continued pushing his potatoes around.

"Did you see someone?" Roderich blinked at him before looking in the direction that Gilbert had just been staring.

"Ja, but he went to sit somewhere else. Antonio." Gilbert shrugged and took a bite of the side dish.

"Maybe there is other people sitting in here?" Roderich tilted his head, "They could have joined us. It's not like we bite."

"Well we are in the corner, maybe they didn't see us back here." Ludwig also looked over his shoulder, but went right back to eating again.

Gilbert stabbed at the remaining hamburger with his fork before leaving it embedded in the bun and shoving the tray away from him. The lecture later was well worth the look on Ludwig and Roderich's faces.

"Gilbert…" Ludwig started.

"What?" Gilbert buried his face in his arms and rested his head on the table, "I ate half of it. Shut up."

Roderich and Ludwig exchanged glances before both of them continued to eat in silence. Gilbert just stared at the table, attempting to ignore any would-be feelings of guilt for slightly snapping his brother's head off.

"Well it seems our phones at least have been silent since our second class." Roderich spoke up quietly.

"Probably because the ones messaging didn't want to be in the office for that, too." Ludwig smiled slightly.

Gilbert raised one hand, "Was totally messaging."

"So was I, but it was only while Lovino was on the roof." Roderich's face reddened slightly, "If I had known he was going to go up there when he stalked out of class I would have gone after him. Honestly."

"Did he say what happened with Antonio this morning?" Gilbert lifted his head to look at the other male.

"No. He said Antonio seemed fine when he had seen him earlier and didn't want to continue the conversation." Roderich made a face and started stirring his soup again.

_They musta had a fight…_ Gilbert rested his head back down on the table. Though trying to imagine Lovino and Antonio in a fight was next to impossible. The only thing he could picture was Lovino yelling at Antonio for something and the taller male just laughing it off. _…Is everything just going in reverse?_ He lifted his head again and stared blankly at the other two at the table.

"Hm?" Ludwig blinked at him in confusion, "Is something wrong?"

Roderich looked over at Gilbert as well, wondering about the stares they were both getting.

"…nope." Gilbert laid his head back down again.

Roderich let out a sigh of frustration and almost threw his spoon down on the tray, but (somewhat calmly) set it down instead. He pushed the tray away and just glared at the top of Gilbert's head.

Ludwig looked back and forth between the two, worried, before quietly munching on the potatoes on his tray. _Just going to keep quiet…_

"Well whatever happened…" Roderich glanced at his phone, having felt it go off again, "Lovino and Antonio had a disagreement or something…"

"You think so?" Ludwig frowned.

"Yeah. They just changed their relationship status to single." Roderich set the phone down on the table, "This is going to be a long day indeed."

"…So much for the plane that would never land." Gilbert commented softly.

Ludwig shook his head, "Maybe they just have too much going on and it was a mutual agreement."

"Well Cruz certainly isn't having any of it. The phones used to be quiet." Roderich sighed and put the device back in his pocket.

Maybe it had been on purpose after all that Antonio didn't come over. _Hopefully this doesn't sink Lovino again… or Antonio for that matter. _

"I'm sure they'll work out whatever is going on."

Gilbert lifted his head to half-glare at Roderich, wondering if he was sitting next to a mind-reader. He let his eyes wander around the room and spotted the principal talking to a group of students (none of whom he recognized) with a rather serious expression on his face. While he was curious about what was going on, Gilbert just laid his head back down and attempted to go back to sleep instead.

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And one update that took entirely too long for me to get up on the site. Sorry again.


	8. My hand is acting independently - G

I'm having fun with this!

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Gilbert headed down the hallway, walking beside Roderich. Ludwig had turned down an adjoining hallway a few minutes ago, and Gilbert was more than happy to just walk by himself with Roderich (no offense to Luddy).

"Why is it one always feels tired after eating? And I'm sure to fall asleep in study hall now…" Roderich stifled a yawn.

"I probably should stay awake for class, but at the same time, I probably won't." Gilbert grinned, "Besides, how exciting could Ancient History possibly be?" He waved a hand nonchalantly.

"It certainly wasn't when I had it. Then again, the teacher wasn't even there when I had class. Roma was substituting for about ten minutes before he wandered back out again."

"Whaaat?" Gilbert laughed, "Leave it to Roma to cover only what was important before vanishing!"

"And then Lovino of course went to the roof." Roderich sighed, "Roma should have just stayed in the classroom…"

"Counselors are busy, too, though." Gilbert pointed out, "It's not like they're supposed to cover for teachers who are absent."

"True…" Roderich frowned.

"I'll let you know how the teacher is when I see her!" Gilbert grinned, "I'll just send you a text or something since you're not gonna be doing anything important anyway!"

Roderich's face reddened, "You're going to get sent to the office for messaging during class!"

"Nah, I'll be fine. …Uh…" Gilbert tilted his head as they were about to turn, "…Isn't that Cruz? Just parked on the floor?"

Roderich paused to glance up the hall where they could both see Cruz just sitting on the floor, "So it is. I wonder what he's doing."

"Maybe he got kicked out of class for being sassy!"

"…Class hasn't even started yet…"

"New record for him." Gilbert snickered and headed down the other hall.

Roderich huffed and followed the albino, "Honestly! He must have a school record longer than his arm!"

"Hmm… well he was pretty violent in his freshman year… but it was only because there were a lot of people being kinda crappy to him." Gilbert shrugged off-handishly.

"So the story goes…"

"Nah, so the truth goes. Matthew was telling me about it. Apparently he was the one who spoke up in Cruz's defense."

"Really? Well there's proof he can speak up!"

"…" Gilbert tilted his head, "Anyway… I wonder why he never thought of that."

"You'd have to ask him. Or someone would." Roderich responded, "Anyway, I must turn here."

"Ja, ja. Have fun in study hall!" Gilbert waved him off and headed for class. However, upon entering, he suddenly got the feeling that this was going to _nothing_ like a history class. He stared at the blackboard from the doorway with an expression of horror.

"This is Ancient Times!" Mrs. Thompson waved at him from behind her desk.

"Then why is _that_ on the board?" Gilbert pointed at the scrawled lettering.

"Because some students were reciting poetry last class, and I wanted to hear what some people could come up with! The most creative teachers know how to improvise!"

"I will find out who these students are and I will hunt them down." Gilbert muttered under his breath and stalked off to one of the seats by the windows, "I am not writing any crap poetry!"

Mrs. Thompson rubbed her hands together happily as students started milling in, many of them exchanging confused glances or mimicking Gilbert's initial expression of horror upon reading the blackboard, "Come on in! We're going to be doing something different!"

_It's only the first day! I'd rather listen to the same crap speech than this! _Gilbert let out an inward cry as she headed for the front of the classroom, standing in the center of the aisle.

"Now, this may need some explaining, so here is my explanation for turning this into poetry hour. Last class I had two students trying to come up with poetry for people they liked, and I was quite enjoying listening to their creativity, that I decided it would be nice to hear other people come up with some lines as well!" Mrs. Thompson smiled cheerfully, "So let's pass out some paper here… and while they wrote theirs to their crushes, we're going to write some to family!"

Gilbert's face became even more horrified, "Can I just go to the office now?" His hand shot up in the air, "There is no way in hell I'm writing a poem to any of them!"

There were several laughs from his classmates as Mrs. Thompson frowned, "No, no, no! I'm sure it's not all that difficult to write a poem for your parents!"

"Lady, you have no clue who I put up with." Gilbert said flatly as a paper was set down on the desk.

"Okay! Now recall all the times you've shared with your parents… I'm sure you can come up with something to cover the feelings of love for your mom and dad!"

"You rode with me in the back of a hearse, I should have known my life was about to get so much worse." Gilbert spoke aloud, making sure the teacher could hear him.

There was a loud laugh from behind him, sounding quite similar to that of Francis, and sure enough it was.

"…Thank you for sharing that line, Gilbert." Mrs. Thompson sighed, "I'm beginning to understand your reasoning for not wanting to write a poem."

Gilbert grinned, "I take back what I said, this is gonna be fun!"

**Gilbert: All right! Ancient Times just became poetry class!**

**Roderich: What.**

**Gilbert: I love this teacher!**

**Matthew: Eh.**

**Alfred: uh…dude? Why is it poetry?**

**Gilbert: Dunno, some people were apparently writing poetry last class, and she wanted to hear more.**

**Matthew: …**

**Alfred: Whaat! She wanted to hear more and we still had to go to the office? T_T**

**Roderich: …and the mystery deepens**

**Gilbert: ._. It was you two.**

**Matthew: Sorry.**

**Alfred: :I I can't believe we got sent to the office while you get poetry class!**

**Gilbert: Neither can I. I have to write poetry to my parents.**

**Roderich: Gilbert. Please make it nice.**

**Gilbert: :)**

Gilbert wrote on his paper, humming quietly to himself. If all the teachers went on a random tangent, maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all. He could write a few lines of poetry, no problem. If his vati found it however, he might be in a little bit more trouble than normal.

_You rode with me in the back of a hearse_

_I should have known my life was about to get so much worse_

Gilbert tapped his pencil on the desktop, thinking to himself. What had happened after that? They had to give the stupid speech the following morning.

_I dedicated part of my speech to you_

_I could see the glare at me from row two_

Gilbert grinned. _He's gonna get mad at me…_ He drew a small face in the corner of his paper as he continued to think about the direction of the poem he was writing.

_When afterwards everyone met in the hall_

_I saw all four of you from a distance and thought maybe_

_It wouldn't be so bad at home after all._

Gilbert looked at the last line. "My hand just acted independently from my brain."

Mrs. Thompson peered questioningly over his shoulder, "I think it's cute."

"Of course you do!" Gilbert's face turned red and he threw his eraser at her.

"It is! Keep writing!" Mrs. Thompson caught the eraser and laid it back on his desk with a smile.

Gilbert frowned and looked at the paper again, "…"

_I hid my sickness from all of you last year_

_The thought that the operation wouldn't work had always been such a huge fear._

Gilbert hovered the pencil above his paper. This was coming out rather strange now. It didn't sound like him at all. _Gott…this sounds rather pathetic actually._ Gilbert hit his forehead against the desk, letting out a frustrated sigh.

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Roderich glanced at his phone out of boredom. No further messages from Gilbert. He must be actually participating in whatever poetry lesson they were getting. Trying to not feel slighted, Roderich leaned back in his seat, letting his gaze wander around the room instead. Study halls were bound to be boring the first day. There wasn't any classwork to do.

He turned his head to where Arthur was sitting. They were seated next to one another, but neither had even so much as said a word to each other. Roderich turned his gaze to look out the window instead. _I suppose things have been this way since he came back… I never did apologize._ Roderich clenched his fists and looked back to Arthur again, but the other male was looking at his phone now.

_What am I supposed to say?_ Roderich looked back at his own phone before an idea struck him. He picked up his phone and sent a message to the male sitting next to him. It felt rather stupid since it could have easily been spoken aloud, but if he was in the middle of reading something, Roderich didn't really want to interrupt him (and that was _not_ just an excuse he was making up!).

Roderich leaned back in his seat again, and waited for the response to come (if there was going to be any). _I wonder if I should send a message to Gilbert… but if he actually is participating in class, I don't want to disrupt him either…_ He sighed and spun his phone around in a circle on the desk. Why did study halls have to seemingly take so long? It wouldn't be so bad if there was something happening on a daily basis… it would be rather interesting actually. Too bad this teacher wasn't like the one Gilbert had. _Come to think of it, he didn't tell me what she was like. I guess the fact that she changed the class subject defines her rather well…_

It took a few minutes for it to dawn on him that he was actually missing the messages that Gilbert would normally send him during class. _I guess I got so accustomed to it, that now it seems weird to not get anything…_ Roderich buried his face in his hands. _How could I let myself get used to something like that?!_

"I was never mad at you."

Roderich blinked before he realized Arthur was responding to the message that he had sent him. He stared out the window for a minute before looking back over, "It just seems like we haven't spoken much since then."

"Probably because I didn't opt in to student council last year." Arthur set his phone down on his desk and glanced at Roderich.

"I suppose. We didn't really have many times that we saw each other either." Roderich frowned slightly. Maybe it had only felt like Arthur was ignoring him because they hardly had the opportunity to talk.

Arthur only nodded in silence.

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Look at all the ooc-ness! Look at it! XD


	9. Your cooking sucks Ardrich - G

In an attempt to not make the chapters repetitive, I'm skipping the last couple classes since everyone has pretty much the same schedule (except for Gilbert).

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Gilbert shuffled down the sidewalk, stifling a yawn as he went. One boring school day down, entirely too many more to go. "School wouldn't be so bad if they would make things at least a little more fun." He glanced over his shoulder, but saw no signs of his brothers. They had vanished some time after school, and Gilbert just assumed they had gone off to find Feliciano and Elizaveta. _Sure as hell am not texting them just to ask._

He stopped by the park, glancing in towards a bench under the shade of the tree, debating whether or not to stop, but it would be rather pointless. No homework to be doing. And falling asleep in the park was probably not a good idea. If Ludwig or Ardrich saw him, he'd definitely be in trouble.

Gilbert continued on his way, wondering where Roderich had gone off to after school. Probably the student council room since he had been unable to find his friend (even at the other male's locker). "What would he have to do on the first day though…" Gilbert tilted his head slightly.

He paused by the fence that went around the front yard and stared at the empty driveway for a minute. Nobody else home for once. That was amazing. He wandered up the sidewalk and hopped the two steps up onto the porch, only to discover that he had left his housekey hanging on the keyring… _inside_ the house.

"…" Gilbert banged his head against the door several times before leaning his back up against the wall. "Way to go stupid." He crossed his arms and debated again to just head back to the park or sit on the porch waiting for someone to come home who did have a key.

Or. He could just climb in a window.

Gilbert grinned and bounced over towards the kitchen window. He stood on his tiptoes to see the lock was flipped open, "My luck is turning!" Opening the window, Gilbert hoisted himself up and over, only to discover one slight flaw in his plan to get into the house. "There's too much crap on this counter." He tried to get across it, managing to get himself onto the counter completely without knocking anything over at least. Gilbert shut the window behind him, went to shift his arm behind him to swing himself around, and discovered the counter wasn't there at all.

Staring up from his position, now on the floor flat on his back, Gilbert stared up towards the ceiling, "Note to self. Next time, just sit on the damn porch." He continued laying there for a few minutes, deciding if it would be worth it to attempt to sit up or not. "At least I didn't knock anything off the counter!" He grinned and slowly got himself up into a sitting position. Nothing hurting at least.

"I am not telling anybody this one." Gilbert grabbed the top of the counter to pull himself to his feet and stared out the window. Thankfully, nobody in sight. He pushed the jars back to their original spots (he might have knocked some over, but none fell on the floor) and left the kitchen for the dining room.

At least both parents had gone out, rather than one just taking the car while the other stayed home. Otherwise Gilbert's 'break-in' would have gotten him a very long lecture. He was about to head for the stairs when the sound of a key being turned in the door made him change his mind. "If that's vati, he doesn't want me napping before supper. Crap." Gilbert leaned backwards to discover it was Ardrich coming through the door, "Oh hallo."

"Eliza had to work…" Ardrich sighed, dropping his backpack in the corner of the kitchen, "Huh? Gilbert, where's your bag?"

"…" Gilbert tilted his head for a moment, "…In my locker."

Ardrich stared at him blankly, "Huh? But why did…"

"Well it's not like I needed to bring anything home!" Gilbert scowled, "There was nothing in it! What's the point of taking it back and forth?!" He stormed up the stairs and into his bedroom before his older brother could make any sort of response.

Still resisting the urge to just fall into bed and take a nap, Gilbert paced in a little circle around the room, ending up at the computer desk. He didn't turn on his computer, rather just stared at the black screen until Ardrich peeked into the room.

"What cooking class do you have…?" Ardrich asked quietly.

"Cooking 102." Gilbert said flatly, hitting the power button with more force than necessary.

"…" Ardrich frowned.

Gilbert turned his head to see Ardrich was holding a brown box, "What the heck is that thing?"

"She wants us to start cooking at home…" Ardrich sighed, "I guess I should try doing the homework assignment she gave us…"

Gilbert stared at him for a minute before answering, "What, she gave you homework already? Have fun with that." He waved a hand nonchalantly, "We didn't get any in our class."

"What did you guys do then?" Ardrich made a face.

"Not much. Just going over our class curriculum and what she expects of us. That kind of crap." Gilbert shrugged, shaking his computer mouse while waiting for the screen to load.

Ardrich looked down at the box he was holding again, "…You didn't get an apron or anything?"

"Hell no." Gilbert looked at him horrified, "And no way am I wearing one!"

"Mutti is going to have fun laughing at us." Ardrich sighed, "Though I suppose Ludwig moreso than me. He got stuck with flowers."

"…" Gilbert stared at him, "Luddy got flowers?"

"She said they ran out of the plain blue like I have…" Ardrich tilted his head before shrugging, "Oh well. I'll be in the kitchen." He wandered back out of the room, leaving Gilbert to the mental image of Ludwig in a flower-print apron.

"…Vati's face should be hilarious." Gilbert returned his attention to the computer screen and stared at the desktop, "…I don't want to do anything…"

After a minute or two of staring at the dead conversation room, Gilbert scowled and hit his head against the desk. Apparently no one else felt like being on their computers either. "How boring." He was half-tempted to go down and watch the no-doubt-catastrophe that would be taking place in the kitchen but… "I also don't want to be used as a witness later."

Gilbert frowned at the computer again.

**AwesomeGilbert: Anybody in here?**

Apparently not. Not even anybody hiding. Or if there was, they didn't want to talk to him. Gilbert sighed and laid his head back down on the desk. "What the crap am I supposed to do if I can't even take a nap? There's no stupid homework, nobody online, and I don't feel like being downstairs while Ardy is cooking." Gilbert tilted his head up once more and stared at the screen. "Somebody get onnn…"

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Ardrich stared from the recipe book, to the homework assignment, then looked in the mixing bowl in front of him. The cookbook was more helpful than he had first realized. It had pictures of what it was supposed to look like at each step. However…Ardrich's pile in the bowl looked nothing like the cookie batter in the book. "Did I do something wrong…?" Ardrich tilted his head in confusion, "I thought I got it right…"

After a moment of deciding whether or not to throw it out and start over or put it in the oven and see what happens, Ardrich flung spoonfuls onto a tray and tossed it in the oven. Only one way to find out what was wrong, and that was by watching through the window of the oven (also known as a large square shield if something happened).

Ardrich squatted in front of the oven, staring in at the rack while waiting for something to happen with the tray. _It's probably going to take a while…_ He watched with rising hope when he saw nothing was exploding or really doing much of anything. "Oh good. It must be safe then!" Ardrich bounced up and wandered away from the oven, choosing to go into the living room while he waited a few minutes more.

"Maybe I can get past the stupid boss in the meantime." Ardrich plopped down in front of the television and turned on his video game system, turning his mind to the enemy in front of his character on the screen.

Ludwig pushed open the front door with a sigh, "I got held up…" He stopped by the oven and stared at the tray inside. He assumed Ardrich was attempting the homework assignment, but… what _was_ that?

"Bruder! This boss keeps beating me!"

Ludwig looked around the corner to the livingroom with a look of horror, "Ardrich! The oven!"

"It has like five minutes yet!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! I have the egg timer here!"

Ludwig frowned but went into the livingroom, "It doesn't look like the cookies we're supposed to make…"

"I'm sure they'll taste fine!"

"…I think they is _it_. It only looks like one." Ludwig sat down on the couch, dropping his bookbag next to him on the floor.

Gilbert came hopping down the steps not a minute later, sniffed the air and promptly started waving a hand around in front of his face, "Oh mein gott! Ardrich what the hell are you cooking?!"

Ardrich blinked and stood up, heading for the kitchen with his two younger brothers behind him, "They're supposed to be cookies!"

Gilbert looked at the oven, tilting his head slightly, "Oh…it's not roofing tar?"

Ludwig looked at Ardrich, "I told you, they don't look like cookies."

"Whoa! They didn't look like that a little bit ago!" Ardrich exclaimed, "Crap! Turn it off!" He grabbed the dial and spun it to the 'off' position before looking in the window again, "…Who wants to get it out?"

"You. You cooked it." Gilbert handed him a pair of oven mitts and stood way back, "Go for it."

"I don't wanna touch that! Somebody else get it!" Ardrich cried, throwing the mitts at Ludwig.

"No way!" Ludwig tossed them back, "They're your responsibility!"

"I'm not touching that thing! I don't wanna burn my hands!"

Gilbert leaned over and looked in the oven, "It's kinda leaking over the sides…you better get it out before mutti and vati get home."

Ardrich and Ludwig stared at the oven with looks of apprehension on their faces.

"I don't wanna touch it." Ardrich whispered.

"And where do we put it to hide it from them before they do get home?" Ludwig glanced around, "I don't see anywhere we can put it…"

"Not in the house. It stinks in here already!" Gilbert made a face, "Put it out the side window on top of the bush. When they leave the diningroom you can shove it somewhere else."

"Good idea!" Ardrich yanked open the oven door and got a faceful of smoke, "OH MEIN GOTT."

Gilbert started coughing and kicked open the front door, leaning out of it while gagging, "It stinks…"

"Get rid of it!" Ludwig snapped, waving his hands around, "They'll be home soon!"

Ardrich grabbed the tray and ran for the window while Ludwig hastily wiped out the oven with a damp towel, "Somebody open the window!"

Ludwig cursed and ran for the diningroom while Gilbert continued hanging out the doorway. He threw the window up and Ardrich placed the tray on top of the bush.

"They won't see it right?" Ardrich asked.

Ludwig slammed the window shut and yanked the curtains shut, "Hopefully not."

"…" Ardrich stood in the doorframe of the kitchen and stared at Gilbert in the open doorway, "…Are you okay?"

"Just peachy." Gilbert said flatly, "Please never cook again."

"I have to cook for class!" Ardrich cried.

"Ja, we both do…" Ludwig sighed, "I should try later…"

"Yeah, and if you do it right, then we can say we both did it!" Ardrich smiled at him cheerfully.

"…" Ludwig glared at him, "You should get an F."

"Oh hallo Vati."

Ludwig and Ardrich both jumped and crept worriedly to the door to see their parents staring at them from the driveway.

"What are you three doing?" Regis scowled.

"Uh…" Gilbert looked at Ludwig and Ardrich, "Hanging out because we're bored?"

"…" Myla tilted her head, "Well in that case, I'll just start supper!" She skipped by them and yanked open one of the cabinets, "What does anybody want?"

Regis gave a look of suspicion to the three teenagers (especially at Gilbert who returned the look with one of mock hurt) before looking over at Myla, "…" He leaned over to gaze at the contents, "…Something not expired."

"Is that what went wrong…" Ardrich whispered.

Myla leaned back to look around Regis, "What went wrong?"

"Nothing." Ardrich promptly gave a huge I'm-innocent-as-far-as-you-know-grin and ran out of the kitchen, "Nothing happened!"

Regis and Myla both turned to look at Ludwig and Gilbert, both of whom took deer-in-the-headlights facial expressions instantly.

"What?" Gilbert looked back and forth between the two, "I didn't do anything! I was upstairs until like five minutes ago on my computer! I'm innocent!" He ran out of the kitchen and skidded to a stop in the living room, glaring at Ardrich, "Idiot."

"It wasn't me." Ludwig's face reddened and he hurried after Gilbert, "Ardrich!"

"Somebody better be explaining something!" Myla yelled.

"Or somebody isn't eating later!"

Gilbert started to raise his hand but Regis leaned around the doorway and glared at him, "NOT. YOU."

Gilbert lowered his hand and hung his head.

Ludwig patted him on the shoulder, "It's okay…"

"The fact that he knew what I was doing without even seeing it hurts more than the statement." Gilbert cried before curling up in a ball on the couch with his back facing his brothers, "I'm just gonna lay here til supper's ready…"

Ludwig patted Gilbert on the head with a sigh, "There, there."

"We can eat out again." Myla suggested.

"Not at the same place as last night." Regis said flatly.

"I didn't get to try it…" Ludwig tilted his head.

"Maybe we'll get a different booth this time!" Ardrich leaned backwards to look at his parents, "Something not seventies related?"

"Twinkle twinkle little star…" Gilbert sang from the couch, singing off-key on purpose.

"OR SPACE-THEMED." Ardrich raised his voice.

Myla looked at Regis, "We could give it another try…"

"I never wanted to back to that place again…" Regis sighed, "Fiiiiine."

"Oh great. Stupid music and stupid menus." Gilbert scowled but rolled off the couch, "I don't wanna…"

"Ardrich can cook supper." Ludwig looked over at his brother.

"Charge!" Gilbert sprang off the couch and ran past his parents to the car.

Regis and Myla stared after Gilbert before looking back at Ludwig and Ardrich, "…"

Ardrich and Ludwig both gave innocent faces and hurried after Gilbert.

"Something happened." Regis scowled and stalked after them.

"Something to do with Ardrich's cooking?" Myla tilted her head, following after him.

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Sorry about the delay. Ran into writer's block.


	10. Family reunion Roddy! - G

Can't remember if I said this before so, you may notice the occasional day/week-timeskip. This is an effort to keep things moving along without having the repetitiveness of school days. :)

_Date is currently September 23 (about three weeks in between the last chapter and this one)_

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Name: Gilbert Beilschmidt

Date: September 23

Essay question: **In the past couple weeks we have been reading the story of Camelot. Describe your thoughts on how the events of the entire story tied in with one another, and what would happen if you changed the outcome of just ONE of these.**

Gilbert stared at the paper in front of him, pen hovering over the blank space that was below his answer to the first statement. This was a joke right? Change one event in the entire thing? _What the hell am I supposed to change?!_ He tapped his pen on the desk several times. Stupid tests. And because of his overthinking, he now only had fifteen minutes left to come up with something.

He tilted his head to one side, letting his mind wander back to the story. Okay, so it was basically boy meets girl, girl meets other boy, and first boy dies in war over girl. What the hell. _I can make it more awesome._ Gilbert grinned and started writing cheerfully.

_If I could change one thing, King Arthur would survive the battle but not tell anyone. He would get up after all the soldiers have gone home and follow after the boy to make sure he got home safely. After insuring the child's return he would continue to watch him for the rest of his life to make sure the child carried out King Arthur's word. This way the legend would continue and Guenevere would remain safe because no one knew of his survival._

Gilbert dropped the pen and stretched out his arms above him. _All done!_ Reading over the short paragraph, Gilbert hesitated a moment. _…He kinda sounds like a creepy stalker…_ Gilbert drew a little picture in the margin of a crowned male peering in a window. _I'm watching you…_ He wrote over the male's head.

"I don't think I'm gonna pass this." Gilbert buried his face in his hands but left the paper the way it was.

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* * *

Making his way towards the cafeteria, Gilbert dragged his feet with a serious lack of energy. He had seen the teacher's eyebrow go up at the sight of the drawing. _I'm gonna fail!_ Oh well. It was only the beginning of the year. He had a lot of time to make up for this test-bomb.

"Good morning."

"Hallo, Roddy…" Gilbert waved half-heartedly.

"…That was certainly lacking in your usual energy." Roderich looked at him questioningly.

"I bombed a test." Gilbert sighed.

"You?" Roderich gaped at him, "How on earth did you do that?"

"I started drawing because I made King Arthur sound like a creep."

"…Huh?" Roderich looked even more confused than he had before, it took Gilbert a moment before he realized that his friend didn't even have that class.

"Nothing. Never mind." Gilbert sighed.

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The table had gotten slightly more crowded now since Arthur, Antonio, and Peter had joined them (on the third day of school, what the heck), but at least it was slightly more energetic (even if Peter was three-quarters of the energy).

Speaking of… he was complaining about something but everytime he was about to bring it up, it seemed like he was kicked under the table. Gilbert looked between Arthur and Peter in confusion.

"What on earth is going on at your house?" Roderich sighed.

Antonio coughed a few times and continued eating.

Oh, and apparently whatever was going on, Antonio was in on it, which left Ludwig, Gilbert, and Roderich in the dark as to the subject of the matter.

Peter crossed his arms and sulked, turning so his back was facing Arthur.

"_You_ signed up for it. _You're_ going through with it!" Arthur snapped, "Stop acting like a bloody child!"

"I'm not even worried about it. Field trip!" Antonio smiled cheerfully, "How boring could this be?"

Gilbert made a face, "Oh, Luddy, did your cooking attempt get a passing grade?"

Ludwig looked up from his plate to half-glare at Gilbert, "Yes it passed. You don't have to look so surprised either!"

"It barely passed, right?" Gilbert grinned.

"…" Ludwig's face reddened a bit.

"Gilbert, just because you're in a higher class than him doesn't give you the right to tease him about it." Roderich sighed.

"I'm getting a better grade, too." Gilbert continued grinning.

"I wonder if we're going to be cooking something today…" Antonio looked thoughtful for a minute, "I'd rather not… I don't wanna think about food and then go to work…"

"It'd be rather boring if she just gave us a homework assignment and left it at that."

"I suppose." Antonio sighed and continued eating.

"If you don't start eating something on your plate, so help me, I will dump it on your lap." Arthur threatened.

Peter looked at him, jaw open, "That would be so rude!"

Arthur glared at him, "Stuff it in your face."

Roderich let out a sigh, "I wonder…"

"Hm?" Gilbert looked over at him.

"If we could see into the future, where would we see ourselves at?" Roderich tilted his head, "Five or ten years from now?"

Gilbert blinked several times, "Where the heck did that come from?"

"Homework assignment for Life Preparation." Roderich fumed, "Did you not read it at all?"

"Nope." Gilbert gulped down his can of soda.

"It's nice that teachers are changing the lessons a little from class to class." Ludwig commented, "I would not know what to do with that one."

"The future of Luddy, career: somewhere nowhere near a kitchen, maybe something to do with an office job, waiting for quitting time to come so he can go home to his loving wife!" Gilbert burst out laughing.

Ludwig scowled at his older brother, "What, is my wife supposed to be a homemaker?"

Antonio watched conversation exchange with a look of amusement, "Gilbeeeert, who's his wife?"

"Huh…" Gilbert looked upwards towards the ceiling, giving the impression that he was thinking. He started to speak but Ludwig reached over and put a hand over his mouth.

"Whatever you're about to say, don't." Ludwig snapped.

Roderich raised an eyebrow, "Sensitive to something, are you?"

"Sheeeeesh." Gilbert batted Ludwig's hand away, "Meany!"

Ludwig took his temper out on the plate in front of him, shooting glares at his brother now and then.

Gilbert just waved his hand at Ludwig and grinned at Roderich and Antonio, "For health reasons, I have been advised to keep quiet."

"Hm. Imagine that." Roderich shook his head and leaned on the table, "Five years in the future… I wonder where I would be at…"

"It's not that far. College?" Arthur suggested.

"Oh I know!" Antonio shook one of his notebooks so a couple scraps of paper fell on the table, "I was doing this game with Ivan, Yao, and Matthew in Life Preparation. We were just doing random futures for us all so we each wrote something on a card and picked one at random."

"Oh! Then I can just do something based on these right?" Roderich looked at the cards he had to choose from before picking the one from the far right, "Then my future is…"

"Which one did you get?" Arthur looked at Antonio.

"Hm? I got 'still living at home'. Yao said he wrote it." Antonio laughed, "I wouldn't mind, but I would like to move out eventually!"

Gilbert leaned over to look at the card Roderich was holding, "…Hey. Who wrote this one?"

"Mine's still here, Yao's is here, I know this one was Matthew's, oh. Did you get Ivan's?" Antonio looked at him uncertainly, "I don't even know what he wrote."

Roderich put it back down on the table face-down and slid it back to Antonio, "I'll just come up with something on my own I suppose."

Antonio looked at the paper uncertainly, "I-Is that why Yao was so quiet…"

Arthur picked it up and slammed it down again, "Why would you even write 'six feet under' for a random future card?!"

"Well I certainly hope I'm not dead in five years." Roderich fumed.

"You could be in Australia." Gilbert grinned.

"That's _down_ under." Ludwig corrected.

"I was trying to cheer him up!" Gilbert cried, "Don't be mean!"

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"Now…I want you to ask yourselves, where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years?" Mrs. Starr paced around the front of the room, "Take all options into consideration!"

Gilbert frowned. Where would he be… _Let's see…if Ludwig marries Feliciano in five years…and Antonio and Lovino ever get back together… Cruz would be with Matthew, Arthur would be with Alfred… _"I know where I'll be!" Gilbert grinned cheerfully.

"That was fast!" Roderich stared at him in shock, "For being so stumped a few minutes ago!"

"Oh? Where will you be at?" Mrs. Starr, who had been making her way around the room, paused by his desk in curiosity.

"The largest and most awesome family reunion ever!" Gilbert grinned.

"…What." Roderich looked completely lost (a look which seemed to be permanently affixed to him today).

"…" Mrs. Starr tilted her head.

"Ja, ja. If everyone keeps doing what they're doing, we're all gonna be related!" Gilbert patted Roderich on the shoulder, "Our relationship is destiny!"

Roderich, who had been taking a sip from his bottle of water, promptly spat it out and started coughing, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

"Go back to what you're doing…" Mrs. Starr waved nonchalantly to their classmates who were looking back in confusion.

"Your face is really red." Gilbert gazed at him with a blank expression.

"IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE SAYING WEIRD CRAP!" Roderich snapped.

"It's not weird!" Gilbert pouted, "You'd be the only one not related to us if we didn't."

"Huh? How do you even figure us all being related anyway?!" Roderich gestured with both arms, "That's impossible!"

"Nein nein!" Gilbert started drawing an illustration on a blank piece of paper, "If Ludwig marries Feliciano, that's connecting our two. If Lovino marries Antonio, then we're also related to Cruz who'll probably end up marrying Matthew. And Alfred's gonna marry Arthur. That leaves Ardrich who's already dating Elizaveta, leaving me with you! Ta-da!"

Roderich gaped at the diagram, "I don't know if that's sheer stupidity or…"

"A really amazing look on the future." Mrs. Starr finished.

"Even if Antonio decides to go with Matthew instead, then Cruz just ends up with Lovino and we end up the exact same way!" Gilbert drew a dotted line between the optional pairings, "One huge family reunion! We should totally make cards now and mail them out in five years. That'd be hilarious!"

"Did I just get dragged into a relationship to make your huge family reunion a possibility?" Roderich stared at him in disbelief.

"Should we address the cards Mr.s Gilbert and Roderich or Beilschmidt-Edelstein?" Gilbert tilted his head.

"I think the second one has a better ring to it." Mrs. Starr looked thoughtful for a minute, "The first one just makes you sound like housemates."

Roderich looked between the two, still trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened, "What…"

"Ja…so 'Beilschmidt-Edelstein cordially invite you to the most awesome family reunion ever!' and then we can put the addressee's names on each card! I wonder what location will be open in five years…" Gilbert drew an outline of a card above the diagram.

"…Are you going to make the reservations now, too?" Roderich raised an eyebrow, "They will think you're joking."

"Oh, I know! It can be at the Decades of Dining place! They have a huge room in the back where all the years are blended together! The old guys will feel better if they see things they recognize!" Gilbert motioned with both arms.

"…Are you referring to your parents…" Roderich sighed.

"And Roma." Gilbert drew a line from Lovino and Feliciano to write Roma's name along with a question mark, "Who should we address his to though… he might remarry in five years."

"…I'd put Vargas-Summers on that one." Mrs. Starr motioned to the question mark.

"Oh really? Thanks!" Gilbert wrote the name before freezing momentarily, "Summers?"

"Our cooking teacher?" Roderich looked up at her in confusion.

"They're so cute!" Mrs. Starr giggled.

Gilbert watched her walk away before looking back at Roderich, "Okay, since we're obviously the ones planning this thing…"

"I'm still stuck on how and when I got married to you!" Roderich snapped, hitting both fists to his desk.

"Do we have to plan that, too?" Gilbert made a face, "Talk about being over-prepared!"

"You're drawing plans for a family reunion five years from now!" Roderich exclaimed, "How am I the one being over-prepared?!"

"Right, we should have some holiday parties in there, too!" Gilbert frowned, "Hmm…"

"Pft. Someone else can organize those." Roderich crossed his arms and huffed, "Whoever had the biggest house, we'll all just show up on their porch."

"Can we live in an apartment?" Gilbert asked, "That way we don't get stuck with the dishes."

"Hmm…how about… the last ones to arrive do the dishes?" Roderich suggested, "Apartments are too small."

"Oh!" Gilbert wrote the idea down, "The rules of the partying!"

"You have to bring a present for everyone, even if you're fighting with whoever it is." Roderich added.

"Coal." Gilbert continued writing.

"No coal!" Roderich snapped, "So help me, if I ever catch you giving that to anyone, I'm filling your stocking with it!"

"You're gonna be a stingy husband!" Gilbert pouted, "I'm giving you the fruitcake!"

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**Gilbert is in a relationship with Roderich!**

**Roderich is in a relationship with Gilbert!**

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:D this chapter was fun!For those of you wondering about the last two lines, that's their phone status changing, it's not the author doing a 'finally' moment. Though there is that, too. As well as a few readers, I'm sure.


	11. None of them should be gone

:D … So to you people just favoriting and signing up for the story alerts, I'd love to have a review from you all, too :D They make me happy and give me feedback for upcoming chapters. :) Help a writer out, would you? C:

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This school year, Gilbert had hit the ground running (except for being so tired at the start of it, but he was perfectly okay now). He didn't have to take the completely unawesome gym class (though he was a bit miffed at the beginning because Vati-the-Stiff hadn't even talked to him about it), drama class wasn't turning out all that bad (except for drawing on that one test paper, still didn't get the results yet), and he now had an equally-awesome-boyfriend (surprisingly).

Gilbert had been a little surprised, to say the least, that Roderich didn't turn him down flat when he asked after class later (of course he wasn't going to just leave it at the party planning as being the unspoken question, you people must think he's rude). To make the day even better, two certain adults at the house had discovered a plate that a certain older brother had forgotten about outside the window. And boy did the voices escalate on that one (not to mention the pain in his ribs from laughing)!

Yes, with everything awesome happening this year, things were definitely looking up. At least…they were. Until the last day of September. Then it was a like one of those skydiving jumps out of an airplane…without the parachute. Landing included.

Now they all sat in the office, with other families affected by what had happened. Barely a word had been spoken since a police officer had told them the news. Even the principal was silent (which was saying something, that guy always had to input a word here or there somewhere, but now he didn't speak at all).

_The car was going too fast…_

Regis rubbed his temple in frustration. This was not happening while his sons were in their final year of high school. This was _not_ happening.

_It looks like he tried to step on the brakes, there were marks in the asphalt that started a distance away from the red light…_

Myla just stared in shock at the uniformed officer. This was a joke. It had to be. There's no way something like this could have ever taken place. Something like this always happened to other people. Why did they have to be the 'other people' to somebody else?

_…He was killed as soon as the car hit him._

Gilbert shivered slightly. A-At least he hadn't felt much, right? But what must it have looked like to him? To see something like that coming so fast at him? And to know the driver, and the other people in the car. Did he close his eyes? Did he pray the car would miss him? Or that the car would come to a stop at the last second?

_Another car, who had the greenlight, was already going through the intersection. His car couldn't stop before it struck their vehicle._

Ludwig stared past the person who was standing in front of them, and kept his gaze fixated on the wall. He was not listening to this. The school year just started, and yet now there were… five students not finishing the year. _What their families must be going through. I can't imagine._

_We tried. The ambulance crews tried. But we couldn't bring them back. The front-seat passenger and the driver were gone before we got there._

Ardrich's eyes had already filled up with tears. He could feel his shoulders shaking as he tried to make sense of what they were being told. It didn't even matter that they had been closer to Gilbert than to him, something like this shouldn't even happen! They hadn't graduated yet! They weren't adults at all! _Well…one of them was._

_The three passengers in the back were taken to the hospital's emergency room as soon as we could get them there, but I'm sorry. They were too far gone._

Gilbert closed his eyes and just listened to the silence in the room. By now the silence was louder than the words that had been spoken just a few minutes before. The only thing he could hear over the silence was the losing battle Ardrich was having with his tears. And Gilbert's weren't that far behind his brother's.

_We are still investigating the accident, we're trying to understand why the car was going as fast as it was. It's possible the car had a malfunction in the engine and he was trying to brake, but something might have failed, we don't know. As soon as we do know, you will know._

Regis turned his head towards his family. A small part of him was glad that they were all still there. But at the same time… he turned his gaze towards where another family was sitting. He felt like he had lost part of it. Losing someone he knew for so long… _He shouldn't have died._

_This was a severe tragedy. And we cannot even begin to comprehend the loss all of you must be feeling. We are so sorry._

…

…

_None of them should have died._


End file.
